BCCI bullies Indian cricketers

And I also believe, the BCCI is far too narcissistic, naïve and no-show to understand the nuances of the Guyana result.

But it’s time to call a spade a spade, and an ass a donkey’s first cousin. So here goes.

I am extremely tempted to run amok here, but shall restrict my trademark nastiness to simple paragraphs; we shall do a detailed analysis in periodic installments.

1) Now that Bangladesh has even routed the formidable South Africans, isn’t it obvious that the BCCI is drastically over-reacting by attempting radical changes on player commercial terms that might boomerang? Two bad games (even terrible outings, if you please, as even Sunil Gavaskar states in his regular column) and we are castigating Indian players as if they deserve capital punishment.

2) Will the public of India that burnt effigies, pelted stones, abused players, wrote nasty snail mail, push buttoned sarcastic SMS messages, and ridiculed the Indian players with relish, apologise to our cricketers now ? So shall we all accept finally that cricket is only a game, and Indians are not the only ones who have our regular blushes? And although we remain complacently cocky about our much-haloed skills, in reality, maybe that Bangladesh match wasn’t perhaps just a massive upset, as we have all construed? We were, in hindsight, upstaged by a remarkably determined and better side. Period! Why can’t we reconcile to that? Bangladesh does not have to win the World Cup 2007 to have shades of India 1983.

3) How come the BCCI decides that the Bangladesh tour should have “ young players” and insinuate that the Indian selectors follow that explicit fiat? Are they expecting the Bangladesh trip to be like blueberry cheesecake? A walk in the rose garden? Isn’t that the task of Dilip Vengsarkar & Co, or is the former captain only meant to be whipped and walloped? And now that the Bangladeshis are the buzz team of the World Cup, will BCCI get cold feet all over again. What a joke! To begin with, on what grounds can India drop Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, V Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Anil Kumble from at least the Test team today ? Even in ODIs, Yuvraj and Ganguly have earned their place.

4) Who was responsible for the delay in signing the player contracts which was meant to have been closed months before India went for the World Cup campaign? So just because India returned hurriedly within 7 days bags-packed , the BCCI chooses to unilaterally cancel the contract itself, alter all fundamental norms of basic courtesy and principled negotiations, bullying the Indian players into meek submission, simply because they have hit a momentary rough patch. This is grossly unethical isn’t it?

5) Can we understand the rationale behind a maximum cap of 3 product endorsements by players? Why not 8? Why not 2 ? What is the compelling playing/ commercial logic? How can BCCI deny a cricket player with a limited career longevity a right to legal , tax-deducted at source professional income? Doesn’t it contravene the very basic tenets of fundamental rights of an Indian citizen, his right to livelihood as per our Indian Constitution ? How about existing contracts ; does BCCI expect the players to annul them? Will they compensate the Indian players for earnings lost and legal fees? And won’t corporate sponsors shun cricket if they are coerced into restrictive involvement ( only 2 players per product endorsement etc) . Won’t Indian cricket lose the very reason for it’s recent popular success; it’s enormous funding ? It’s suicidal, and downright stupid.

6) Cricket remains a mass-sport in India because it is essentially a middle class game with high aspirational value. Youngsters play gully cricket, bunk classes to watch TV, parents save on household expenses to coach their young sons in cricket academies and grand-mothers pray in temples for superstitious reasons. Sure, there is a great thrill and enormous honour to play for your country. But would you work for the Tatas or Unilever or Microsoft for the sheer “ honour” of working for them ? Isn’t the work culture, potential for advancement, compensation structure, benefits, foreign travel, bonuses, stock options etc motivating reasons as well.? And aren’t the cricketers also fully aware of how we fickle-minded “ patriotic Indians” have forgotten Olympic gold-medal winners , who have been reduced to becoming vegetable hawkers, police constables, and even doing the begging bowl for mere survival? Doesn’t a youngster who gives up every other safe career option for a high-risk sport deserve a shot at being rich and famous? In a country where there a million Iqbals in the making , how can limiting their commercial opportunities help? High-risk ,high reward goes hand-in-hand. One can understand the two-week ad shoot ban prior to tour, but aren’t those usually BCCI sponsor engagements the players have to mandatorily attend?

7) So Sachin Tendulkar gets a serious reprimand in the November of his celebrated career for transparently addressing a whisper campaign against him conducted with Machiavellian finesse by Greg Chappell. Leaked SMS to journalists in proximity, discreet sources, and off-direct quotes created havoc post India’s return, but Mr Chappell gets away scot free and even lands a consultant’s role as a reward for his ham-handed indiscretions. No admonishment. No words of restraint. But Tendulkar gets a show-cause notice for defending himself. Fair justice? BCCI officials pass personal judgements on cricketers with casual comfort, but Yuvraj Singh gets another warning notice for talking to the same correspondents. BCCI officials can , of course, run their own FM channels, right, Mr Pawar?

8) How will a media gag create better team harmony? Why not instead give them all professional media training? If the reported team differences during the Caribbean campaign are true, how did media ban which was already being enforced help? Media gag is like stuffed pacifiers on noisy toddlers; can we treat our “ old” cricketers with more mature respect, please. I can understand a do’s and don’ts guideline and a code of conduct, but the more you clamp prohibition, the more the grapevine will buzz with excited honey-bees. And the media will savour the nectar with waffles for breakfast.

9) After the Chappell experience, shouldn’t there also be a complete ban on all the coaches/ support staff categorically as well; so is Ravi Shastri allowed to give sound bytes to ESPN Star Sports or should he be told to keep his words of wisdom ( like “Chappell has still a lot to offer”) under a tight leash? What about Robin Singh? Venky Prasad? And let’s get this straight; is Shastri an interim coach or a Manager?

10) Isn’t the BCCI supposed to know it’s own job, for heaven’s sake ? Isn’t appointing a 7-member ex-captain’s club another shady smokescreen adopted by Mr Pawar to deflect criticism from it’s inefficient functioning or is it a tacit , implicit admission that Mr Pawar is as clueless about cricket administration as he is about farmer suicides in Vidharbha district in his own home state? What a daylight sham?

11) Won’t the absence of a clear contract willy- nilly contribute to creating a parallel cricket structure , as mooted by Zee chief, Subhash Chandra? Or is that also , as alleged by many, part of a deeper planned conspiracy involving TV rights and shared revenue ? Only time will tell, but even as I write the mystery thickens.

12) So will the BCCI also guarantee that masala matches in offshore centres of financial affluence like Abu Dhabhi, Ireland, KL, will be strictly a no-no in the interest and health of Indian cricket? So will we have less of convenient bilateral -series for a quick buck?

13) At a time when corporate salaries even for 20 year old green-horns with some mathematical sense , public speaking skills and an ability to crack some case studies is zooming at Rs 50 lakshs/ Rs 1 crore per annum in campus recruitments, the Indian cricketers , besides loss of annual graded contracts, limited endorsements etc have also got to suffer the humiliation of reduction in match fees for both tests and ODIs? Isn’t that vindictive and purely populist? It’s humiliating. An IIM-A or XLRI grad will continue to earn hefty bonuses, get free perks, advance vertically and increase compensation on incremental hikes every year. While he will still be on his upward curve in his early 30s, an international cricketer will be probably singing his swan song. And not everyone will be in the commentary box post-superannuation. Mr Pawar, have you thought of that? And by the way, how much is current player cash compensation as a percentage of total BCCI revenue?

14) Sure some of the announcements with regard to zonal selectors, a revamp of domestic tournaments et al seems to make logical sense, but these good old ideas have been repeated ad nauseam by several cricket analysts , and we should take BCCI’s belated response with a bucketful of salt. These are just feel-good talk to keep media in good humour, like the famous CEO appointment , corporatisation of the bureaucratic organization, the web site ( it has been under construction for so long , Emperor Shahjahan could have built another Taj Mahal by now) story etc we heard in December 2005 by the Pawar faction. Ladies and gentlemen, you take the BCCI officials at face value at tremendous risk to your health and mental sanity. Execution of these ideas could still be million miles away . And of course, BCCI has zero responsibility for our cricketing slump of late. They are above and beyond any accountability whatsoever.

15) KPS Gill , a bottom-pinching bureaucrat has reduced Indian hockey to virtual shambles. And Mr Pawar, through his power-plays and through ignorance of the game, is reducing cricket into a literal farce. Nothing was more symptomatic of cricket’s decline in India than the pompous faces of BCCI office-bearers. A self-important smiling Shashank Manohar, the bored countenance of a Professor of chemistry or whatever, an unnaturally restrained Niranjan Shah, a portly man who once aspired to be Prime Minister of India issuing diktats on speaking on TV channels to a brusque Punjab ka Munda. And a man maximizing financial returns on cement sales addressing the most crowded press conference in Indian cricket history. None of them can hold a bat to save his stump.

You know what guys, but I think Indian cricket is headed for tough, exacting days ahead. And it’s not just a belligerent, exuberant Bangladesh team awaiting with breathless anticipation our arrival on their home – turf. The real reason is different.

BCCI has not just missed the bus. It has also missed the bus-stop.